LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

GIFT  OF 


Class 


Reprinted  from  the 
EDUCATIONAL   REVIEW 

NEW  YORK,  SEPTEMBER,  1903 


THE  LENGTH  OF  THE  COLLEGE  COURSE 


AND   ITS 


RELATION  TO  THE  PROFESSIONAL  SCHOOLS 


Papers  read  before  the  Department  of  Higher  Education 

of  the  National  Educational  Association 

at  Boston,  Mass.  July  7,  1903 


ri 


?S/TY 


THE  BACCALAUREATE  COURSE  IN  ITS  RELATION 
TO  THE  PROFESSIONAL  SCHOOLS  x 

It  is  not  easy  to  set  forth  in  few  words  the  relation  of  the 
colonial  colleges  to  preparation  for  professional  life.  Not  much 
of  the  instruction  which  they  offered  was  technically  profes- 
sional. Yet  the  professional  bent  was  stronger  in  them  than 
in  the  colleges  of  a  later  day.  Colleges  were  for  the  service 
of  God  in  church  and  commonwealth,  and  that  service  was  to 
be  rendered  thru  the  professional  and  governmental  activi- 
ties of  the  alumni.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  college 
course  was  regarded  as  the  first,  undifferentiated  stage  of  pro- 
fessional training. 

The  profession  chiefly  in  view  was,  of  course,  the  Christian 
ministry.  A  few  subjects  in  divinity,  of  a  pretty  distinct  and 
technical  sort,  found  their  way  into  the  general  college  cur- 
riculum, and  were  pursued,  willy-nilly,  by  students  who  were 
preparing  for  other  than  the  ministerial  calling.  A  large  part 
of  the  immediate  preparation  for  ordination,  however,  was 
made  by  young  theological  students  thru  private  reading,  and 
practice  in  sermonizing  under  the  direction  of  some  ministerial 
friend  engaged  in  an  active  pastorate.  So  the  prospective  phy- 
sician learned  of  a  practicing  physician,  the  prospective  lawyer 
of  a  practicing  attorney.  And  all  three,  if  their  training  was 
ideally  complete,  had  taken  the  same  classical  and  philosophi- 

1  A  paper  read  before  the  Department  of  Higher  Education  of  the  National 
Educational  Association,  at  Boston,  Mass.,  July  7,  1903. 


117322 


no  Educational  Review  [September 

cal  course  in  college  as  the  groundwork  of  their  professional 
education. 

The  colonial  view  in  its  most  extreme  form  was  set  forth  by 
President  Clap  of  Yale  College,  in  his  Religious  constitution 
of  Colleges,  published  in  1754.  "Colleges,"  he  said,  "are 
Religious  Societies,  of  a  Superior  Nature  to  all  others.  For 
whereas  Parishes,  are  Societies,  for  training  up  the  Common 
People;  Colleges,  are  Societites  of  Ministers,  for  training  up 
Persons  for  the  Work  of  the  Ministry.  .  .  Some  indeed, 
have  supposed,  that,  the  only  design  of  Colleges,  was  to  teach 
the  Arts,  and  Sciences.  .  .  But  it  is  probable,  that  there  is 
not  a  College,  to  be  found  upon  Earth,  upon  such  a 
Constitution." 

On  the  other  hand,  an  advanced  colonial  view  was  expressed 
by  William  Smith,  D.  D.,  Provost  of  the  College  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  his  General  view  of  the  College  of  Mirania,  an  ideal 
sketch,  published  in  1753,  as  a  suggestion  relative  to  the  college 
then  projected  for  the  Province  of  New  York.  ;'  The  Miran- 
ians,"  according  to  this  account,  "  divide  the  whole  body  of 
people  into  two  grand  classes.  The  first  consists  of  those  de- 
signed for  the  learned  professions;  by  which  they  understand 
divinity,  law,  physic,  and  the  chief  offices  of  the  state.  The 
second  class  consists  of  those  designed  for  the  mechanic  pro- 
fessions, and  all  the  remaining  people  of  the  country."  The 
M Iranians  show  their  liberality  by  providing  a  good  education 
for  this  second  class  up  to  the  age  of  fifteen.  But  college  train- 
ing is  reserved  for  those  of  the  former  class.  Beginning  at  the 
age  of  six,  all  are  trained  alike  for  the  first  three  years.  Then 
those  intended  for  college  pass  thru  a  five-years  course  in  a 
Latin  school.  They  are  ready  for  college  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, and  their  college  course  is  five  years  in  length,  the  first 
year  being  devoted  chiefly  to  Greek,  the  second  to  Mathema- 
tics, the  third  to  Philosophy,  the  fourth  to  Rhetoric  and 
Poetry,  and  the  fifth  to  Agriculture  and  History. 

If  it  was  difficult  to  characterize  briefly  the  colonial  ideal  of 
higher  education,  it  is  hardly  easier  to  trace  the  subtle  change 
which  came  over  this  ideal  and  gave  us  the  typical  American 
college  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  both  Europe  and  Amer- 


1903]  The  Baccalaureate  course  1 1 1 

ica,  the  Revolutionary  Age  brought  forth  a  new  estimate  of 
human  worth,  as  human,  and  a  new  demand  for  a  purely  hu- 
mane culture.  We  cannot  even  attempt  at  this  time  to  unravel 
the  influences,  religious,  scientific,  literary,  revolutionary, 
which  led  to  these  shiftings  of  emphasis.  But  the  distinctive 
college  ideal  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  the  ideal  of  purely 
liberal  culture,  in  one  of  the  noblest  forms  in  which  that  con- 
ception has  appeared  in  the  history  of  human  thought.  If 
this  lofty  idealism  dwelt  overmuch  in  the  thin  air  of  academic 
abstraction,  it  none  the  less  called  out  upon  its  heights  a  de- 
voted and  enthusiastic  following.  The  ideal  of  the  colleges 
became  the  ideal  of  the  academies.  Somewhat  modified,  it  reap- 
peared in  the  common  schools;  and  the  American  people,  with 
marvelous  unanimity,  embraced  this  common  faith  and  pur- 
pose, that  education  shall  be  first  and  chiefly  for  manhood,  ir- 
respective of  differences  of  family  history,  or  of  prospective 
occupation.  *T hru  the  greater  part  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
accordingly,  we  saw  general,  that  is,  liberal  education  in  the 
ascendency;  and  professional  education  rising  indeed,  but 
slowly  and  painfully.  Professional  schools  had  come  into  ex- 
istence in  large  numbers,  and  were  more  and  more  largely  at- 
tended. But  their  educational  character  was  hardly .  taken 
seriously,  and  their  courses  of  instruction  were  looked  upon  as 
only  a  slight  improvement  on  the  system  of  apprenticeship. 
An  increasing  number  of  students  entered  upon  professional 
studies  without  having  taken  any  part  of  the  college  course.2 
There  had  come  to  be  an  unmistakable  rift  between  studies 
for  culture  and  studies  for  vocation. 

2  The  American  Almanac  for  1842  contained  a  list  of  101  colleges,  39  theo- 
logical seminaries,  lo  law  schools,  and  31  medical  schools  in  the  United  States. 
Cf.,  Wayland,  Present  collegiate  system,  etc.,  p.  8.  Dr.  Wayland  goes  on 
to  say,  "  I  rather  fear  that  the  impression  is  gaining  ground  that  this  [college] 
preparation  is  not  essential  to  success  in  professional  study.  A  large  proportion  of 
our  medical  students  are  not  graduates.  The  proportion  of  law  students  of  the 
same  class  is,  I  rather  think,  increasing.  The  proportion  of  students  for  the  min- 
istry who  resort  to  college  is  much  larger  than  formerly  "  (Op.  cit.,  p.  153). 

In  1890  it  was  estimated  that  8  per  cent,  of  the  medical  students,  18  percent. 
of  the  law  students,  and  23  per  cent,  of  the  theological  students  of  the  whole 
country  had  taken  a  degree  in  arts  or  science.  Report  of  a  special  committee  (of 
the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  University),  p.  12. 


112  Educational  Review  [September 

The  old  college  course  was  for  a  long  time  but  little  changed ; 
but  insensibly  it  had  come  to  be  prescribed  for  culture  rather 
than  as  preparation  for  the  professions. 

Out  of  the  enormous  literature  relating  to  the  American  col- 
lege, which  the  nineteenth  century  brought  forth,  we  may  take, 
as  a  single  representative,  the  Thoughts  on  the  present  collegiate 
system  of  the  United  States  of  Francis  Wayland,  published  in 
1842.  This  work  is  of  great  historical  value,  because  of  the 
detailed  account  which  it  presents  of  the  actual  college  admin- 
istration of  that  day;  and  in  its  recommendations  concerning 
improvements,  moreover,  it  is  prophetic  of  some  of  the  best 
things  in  our  later  college  history.  "  No  nation,"  said  Presi- 
dent Wayland,  "  can  derive  the  benefit  which  God  intended 
from  the  intellect  which  he  has  conferred  upon  it,  unless  all 
that  intellect,  of  what  sort  soever  it  be,  have  the  means  of 
full  and  adequate  development."  But  the  colleges  as  then 
conducted  he  declared  to  be  "  merely  schools  preparatory  to 
entrance  upon  some  one  of  the  professions."  He  continues: 
"  In  consequence  of  this  unintentional  restriction,  a  very  large 
class  of  our  people  have  been  deprived  of  all  participation  in 
the  benefits  of  higher  education.  It  has  been  almost  impossible 
in  this  country,  for  the  merchant,  the  mechanic,  the  manu- 
facturer, to  educate  his  son,  beyond  the  course  of  a  common 
academy  unless  he  gave  him  the  education  preparatory  for  a 
profession."  At  the  same  time,  an  increasing  number  were 
entering  the  professional  schools  without  this  preliminary  col- 
lege training.  The  colleges  were  not  in  close  touch  with  the 
after-life  of  their  graduates.  "  The  college  or  university 
forms  no  integral  and  necessary  part  of  the  social  system.  . 
.  .  In  no  other  country  is  the  whole  plan  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  young  so  entirely  dissevered  from  connexion  with 
the  business  of  subsequent  life." 

It  was  this  state  of  affairs  which  President  Wayland  would 
remedy.  "  Let  the  college  be  the  grand  center  of  intelligence 
to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men,  diffusing  among  all  the 
light  of  every  kind  of  knowledge,  and  approving  itself  to  the 
best  feelings  of  every  class  of  the  community."  To  this  end, 
he  would  raise  the  requirements  for  admission,  thus  securing 


1903]  The  Baccalaureate  course  \  13 

students  of  a  more  uniform  and  more  advanced  age.  To  this 
improved  student  body  he  would  offer  an  improved  college 
course,  one  of  the  suggested  changes  being  the  provision  of  a 
course  parallel  with  that  in  arts,  leading  to  the  degree  of  Bach- 
elor of  Science  or  of  Literature.  "  The  question  will  here  be 
asked,  What  are  we  to  do  with  the  four-year  course?  I 
answer,  it  seems  to  me  of  but  very  little  consequence  whether 
we  do  with  it  or  without  it.  .  .  I  certainly  would  not 
have  the  period  curtailed  commencing  with  the  present,  or 
even  with  much  higher  requirements  for  admission  to  the  uni- 
versity. But  I  would  not  have  it  a  matter  of  time." 

We  will  pause  here  to  consider  briefly  the  place  which  the 
baccalaureate  course  has  occupied  on  the  scale  of  years  of  col- 
lege-men's lives,  thru  our  educational  history.  Harvard 
College  settled  down  at  a  very  early  day  to  a  four-year  course, 
and  from  that  time  on  the  quadrennium  was  so  nearly  uni- 
versal in  the  practice  of  our  colleges. that  there  is  no  need  to 
seek  for  occasional  exceptions.3  For  generations,  this  was  the 
most  rigid  time-allotment  to  be  found  anywhere  in  our  educa- 
tional system.  When  we  came  to  have  professional  schools, 
they  were  for  a  long  time  without  any  common  standards. 
Below  the  college,  the  preparatory  schools  were  likewise  va- 
riable. The  courses  were  largely  determined  by  college-ad- 
mission requirements,  and  only  gradually  shaped  themselves 
into  another  four-year  curriculum. 

No  extended  inquiry  has  yet  been  made,  so  far  as  I  can  learn, 
into  the  actual  ages  of  colonial  college  boys.  We  know  that 
well-endowed  students  were  occasionally  graduated  in  their 
teens — in  some  instances  before  they  were  half  thru  their 
teens.  These  last  were  probably  exceptional  cases.  The  sig- 
nificant fact  is  that,  however  rigid  the  college  course,  the  loose 
organization  of  the  secondary  schools  made  such  early  gradu- 
ation possible.4 

3  Yale   College  had  a  very  early  provision  under  which    the   course    might  be 
shortened,  but  it  seems  not  to  have  been  carried  into  effect.     The  course  of   the 
College  of  Philadelphia,  before  the  Revolution,  was  three  years  in  length.     More 
recently  the  undergraduate  course  at  Johns  Hopkins  University  has  been  a  three 
years'  course. 

4  President  F.  A.  P.  Barnard,  of  Columbia  College,   in  his  Annual  Report  of 


114  Educational  Review  [September 

For  the  period  since  the  Revolution,  we  have  now  at 
hand  the  results  of  an  extended  inquiry  made  by  Mr. 
Thomas.5  Full  statistics  were  found  to  be  available  for  only 
eleven  institutions.  The  list  does  not  include  any  of  the 
greater  universities  of  the  country,  but  is  made  up  of  smaller 
universities  and  representative  colleges,  seven  of  them  in  New 
York  and  New  England,  one  in  the  South,  and  three  in  the 
Middle  West.  These  statistics  show  in  the  period  from  the 
Revolution  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  little 
marked  deviation  from  the  standards  of  more  recent  times.6 
Mr.  Thomas  has  analyzed  with  especial  care  the  records 
of  the  past  fifty  years.  It  appears  from  his  summary  that,  half 
a  century  ago,  the  median  age  of  graduation  from  these  eleven 
institutions  ranged  from  twenty  years  and  seven  months,  at 
New  York  University,  to  twenty-five  years  and  two  months, 
at  Oberlin.  During  the  last  full  decade,  1890-99,  the  range  is 
less  great,  extending  from  twenty  years  and  two  months,  at 
the  University  of  Alabama,  to  twenty-three  years  and  eleven 
months,  at  Oberlin  College  and  Syracuse  University.  One 
institution,  at  the  end  of  the  half -century,  was  where  it  had 
been  at  the  beginning.  The  remaining  ten  were  equally  divided, 
five  of  them  showing  a  higher  and  five  a  lower  median  age 
or  graduation.  Counting  still  by  institutions,  the  median  age 

1880,  "  presented  a  list  of  eighty-one  eminent  men,  all  of  them  graduates  of  the 
early  years  of  this  [nineteenth]  century  or  earlier,  and  none  of  them  graduated  at 
a  more  advanced  age  than  eighteen."  In  1886  he  presented  the  results  of  a  simi- 
lar study,  relating  to  250  persons,  none  of  whom  graduated  later  than  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  youngest  of  these  graduated  at  the  age  of  nine  ;  the 
oldest  at  thirty-one.  Three  were  thirteen,  three  were  fourteen,  and  eight  were 
twenty-six  at  graduation.  The  largest  number  graduated  at  nineteen,  the  next 
largest  at  efghteen,  and  the  average  of  the  whole  number  was  19.87  (Annual  re- 
port of  the  President  of  Columbia  College,  1885-86,  p.  32. 

5  "  Changes   in  the  age  of    college   graduation,"   by   W.    Scott   Thomas,  The 
Popular  Science  Monthly,  June,  1903,  pp.  159-171. 

6  Cf.,  the  following,  written   in  1842:   "Young  persons  maybe  admitted  to  our 
colleges  at  the  close  of  their  fourteenth  year,  and  many  enter  at  that  early  age. 
The  requirements  of  our  colleges  are,  however,  so  moderate  that  a  young  man  who 
has  commenced  life  with  other  expectations  may,  at  a  much  more  advanced  age, 
change  his  pursuits,  and  in  a  year  or  two  be  prepared  for  admission  to  college. 
Thus,  a  considerable  proportion  of  every  class  have  attained  to  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  of  age.     Thirty-two  or  three  is  not  an  uncommon  age  for  a  candidate  for  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,"  Wayland,  (op.  cit.,  p.  31). 


1903]  The  Baccalaureate  course  115 

of  graduation  in  this  whole  group,  in  the  first  of  the  five  decades 
under  consideration,  was  twenty-two  years,  nine  months,  and 
six-tenths,  while  in  the  last  decade  of  the  five  it  was  twenty- 
two  years,  seven  months,  and  five-tenths,  showing  a  lower 
age  at  the  end  of  the  period,  by  about  two  months,  than  at  its 
beginning. 

By  changing  the  method  of  computation,  it  is  shown  that 
in  the  first  of  these  decades  the  average  age  of  graduation  of 
all  of  the  students  included  in  the  reckoning  was  twenty-three 
years  and  three  months,  while  in  the  last  decade  it  was  twenty- 
three  years  and  five-tenths  of  a  month.  Here  again  there  ap- 
pears a  slight  lowering  of  the  age  at  which  the  baccalaureate 
was  taken. 

Mr.  Thomas  has  attacked  his  problem  by  a  third  line 
of  approach,  which  yields  the  most  interesting  results  of  all. 
He  has  computed  the  percentages  of  students  graduated  at  the 
different  years  of  their  age,  and  plotted  the  resulting  curves, 
comparing  the  first  decade  of  this  period  with  the  last.  From 
this  it  appears  that  the  student  body  is  becoming  somewhat 
more  homogeneous  with  regard  to  age;  that  a  smaller  per- 
centage is  found  either  below  or  above  the  age  of  the  bulk  of 
the  class ;  and  that  the  favorite  age  of  graduation,  the  "  mode," 
as  he  calls  it,  which  was  between  twenty  and  twenty-one  in  the 
decade,  1850-59,  has  risen  and  is  found  between  twenty-one 
and  twenty-two  in  the  decade,  1890-99.  In  this  we  see  brought 
to  pass  one  of  the  changes  which  President  Wayland  proposed/ 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  various  in- 
fluences combined  to  lend  new  emphasis  to  professional  edu- 
cation. The  great  advance  which  had  recently  been  made  in 
the  physical  sciences  had  undoubtedly  a  great  deal  to  do  with 
the  change.  It  is  not  surprising  that  schools  of  medicine 
should  have  been  among  the  first  institutions  to  respond  to  this 

1  Earlier  discussions  of  the  same  problem  maybe  found  in  the  following  papers: 
Andrews,  E.  Benjamin,  "  Time  and  age  in  relation  to  the  college  curriculum," 
EDUCATIONAL  REVIEW,  vol.  i.  p.  133-146,  February,  1891. 

Table  of  ages  of  students  entering  freshman  class  of  Brown  University,  by  five- 
year  periods,  1827-90:  1827-30,  17. 7  years;  1831-75,  over  1 8  and  not  over  19 
1876-90,  from  19.0  to  19.4. 

Age  of  students  entering  freshman  class  at  Harvard:  From  1856  to  1859,  under 


1 1 6  Educational  Review  [September 

new  quickening.  When  these  schools  undertook  seriously  to 
lengthen  and  strengthen  their  courses  of  instruction,  they 
found  the  age  of  graduation  from  college  already  so  high  that 
to  add  a  sufficient  professional  course  to  the  ordinary  course 
in  liberal  arts,  would  present  serious  practical  difficulties. 
Then  arose  a  demand  for  the  shortening  of  the  traditional 
college  course,  and  this  was  followed  by  a  demand  for  the  short- 
ening and  enriching  of  the  courses  in  lower  schools.  Harvard 
University  was  the  storm-center  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  dis- 
cussion. I  shall  accordingly  chronicle,  as  briefly  as  possible, 
the  official  history  of  Harvard's  part  in  the  movement  down 
to  the  early  nineties,  and  there  this  sketch  will  come  to  an  end. 

In  his  annual  report  for  1883-84,  President  Eliot  started 
the  discussion  by  suggesting,  a  propos  of  plans  for  lengthening 
the  course  of  medical  instruction  to  four  years,  the  advisability 
of  shortening  the  course  in  the  college  proper  to  three  years, 
or  of  bringing  undergraduates  to  avail  themselves  of  the  facili- 
ties already  provided  for  abbreviating  the  college  course. 

The  faculty  of  the  medical  school,  in  June,  1886,  proposed  to 
the  Academic  Council  a  plan  for  the  abridgment  of  the  college 
course,  by  those  who  would  go  from  the  college  to  the  profes- 
sional school  of  the  university.  The  faculty  of  law  concurred 
in  this  recommendation.  After  consideration  in  committee 
and  extended  discussion,  the  Academic  Council,  in  November, 
1887,  requested  the  college  faculty  to  consider  the  expediency 
of  a  reduction  of  the  college  course.  The  reply  of  the  faculty 
was  not  given  till  March,  1890.  It  took  the  form  of  four 
recommendations,  addressed  to  the  Corporation : 

"  I.  That  the  requirements  for  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 

18;  from  1860  to  1880,  over  18  and  under  19;  from  1881  to  1890,  six  years  out  of 
the  ten,  19  or  over. 

Summary  .  ' '  While  the  average  age  of  graduation  at  New  England  colleges  is 
rising,  the  usual  age  is  falling." 

Bartlett,  S.  C.,  "  Shortening  the  college  course."  Education,  vol.  ii.  p.  585-59°* 
June,  1891. 

Average  age  of  entrance  has  not  been  materially  rising  at  Williams,  Michigan, 
Tufts,  Dartmouth.  At  Dartmouth,  average  age  of  last  four  graduating 
classes  was  less  than  four  months  higher  than  that  of  classes  in  1832-36.  At 
Michigan  University,  average  of  present  freshmen  class  is  one  year  less  than 
that  of  the  classes  fifteen  years  ago. 


1 903]  The  Baccalaureate  course  \  1 7 

Arts  be  expressed  ...  in  terms  of  courses  of  study  satisfac- 
torily accomplished. 

"  2.  That  the  number  of  courses  required  for  the  degree  be 
sixteen. 

"3.  That  when  a  student  enters  college  there  shall  be  placed 
to  his  credit  .  .  .  ( i )  any  advanced  studies  on  which  he  has 
passed  in  his  admission  examination  beyond  the  number  re- 
quired for  admission,  and  (2)  any  other  college  studies  which 
he  has  anticipated. 

"  4.  That  a  student  may  be  recommended  for  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  in  the  middle  as  well  as  at  the  end  of  the 
academic  year." 

This  report  was  approved  by  the  President  and  Fellows,  who 
transmitted  it  to  the  Board  of  Overseers.  From  April,  1890, 
to  April,  1891,  the  Overseers  had  the  matter  under  considera- 
tion, and  during  the  same  twelvemonth  public  discussion  of 
the  shortening  of  the  college  course  was  at  its  height.  Then 
action  was  taken  by  the  Overseers,  refusing  consent  to  the  first, 
second,  and  fourth  proposals  of  the  faculty,  and  approving  the 
third,  with  unimportant  modifications.  In  reporting  this 
action,  President  Eliot  called  attention  to  the  fact  "  that  any 
student  of  fair  parts  can  get  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  at 
Harvard  College  in  three  years  under  existing  regulations  with- 
out any  unreasonable  exertion." 

Parallel  with  this  movement  at  Harvard,  important  steps 
were  taken  in  other  institutions.  In  May,  1890,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity adopted  the  plan  of  permitting  seniors  to  elect  their 
studies,  under  certain  restrictions,  from  courses  offered  by  the 
faculties  of  philosophy,  political  science,  mines,  and  laws.  This 
arrangement  came  to  be  known  as  the  "  Columbia  Plan,"  by 
way  of  distinction  from  the  proposed  "  Harvard  Plan."  The 
University  of  Michigan  had  for  several  years  prescribed  its  re- 
quirements for  graduation  in  quantitative  terms,  and  had  per- 
mitted students  who  came  up  to  the  beginning  of  their  senior 
year  with  not  more  than  one  half-year's  work  of  their  course 
remaining  uncompleted,  to  take  professional  studies  during  the 
senior  year  along  with  the  remaining  work  of  the  undergradu- 
ate course.  The  further  provision  was  now  made  at  Michigan, 


1 1 8  Educational  Review  [Septembe 

that  students  preparing  for  the  (four-year)  course  in  medicim 
might  arrange  for  an  overlapping  of  the  two  courses,  with  th 
result  that  the  general  and  the  professional  degree  might  botl 
be  taken  in  seven  years.  The  University  of  Chicago  and  th 
Leland  Stanford  Junior  University  appeared  on  the  scene  a 
this  time,  with  their  characteristic  contributions  to  current  dis 
cussion  and  practice.  The  proposals  of  President  Butler  re 
specting  the  baccalaureate,  which  have  given  a  new  impetus  t< 
the  movement  we  are  considering,  are  so  recent  that,  with  th 
discussions  of  this  session,  they  belong  rather  to  the  presen 
than  to  the  province  of  the  chronicler. 

To  sum  up,  the  more  significant  aspects  of  this  history  seen 
to  me  to  be  these :  That  the  bachelor's  degree  has  in  some  sens< 
determined  our  national  educational  standard ;  that  it  has  com 
to  be  a  general  possession  of  our  people,  that  is,  the  mark  simpl; 
of  the  well-educated  man,  irrespective  of  his  calling ;  that  witl 
better  educational  organization,  it  has  come  to  represent  nor 
mally  a  higher  grade  of  training  than  it  once  stood  for ;  that  ii 
becoming  both  a  higher  degree  and  a  more  popular  degree,  i 
has  largely  lost  its  old-time  connection  with  training  for  voca 
tion,  and  has  prompted  young  people,  after  they  have  come  o 
legal  age,  to  go  on  still  with  general  studies,  and  without  seri 
ous  thought  of  occupation  in  life.  To  ward  off  the  danger  o 
chronic  dilettanteism,  which  is  thus  incurred;  to  integrate  th< 
baccalaureate  with  life,  while  keeping  it  still  a  degree  of  higl 
standing  and  also  a  popular  degree,  has  been,  I  think,  the  pur 
pose  of  recent  movements  in  this  field.  There  has  been  som< 
consideration,  but  not  enough  consideration  as  yet,  of  the  prob 
lem  of  intermediate,  connective  courses,  between  general  cul 
ture  and  professional  training. 

Of  the  extensive  literature  to  which  this  question  has  giver 
rise,  attention  may  be  called  to  the  following,  in  addition  to  th< 
papers  already  mentioned : 

Adams,  Charles  Kendall,  "  The  Next  step  in  education/ 
The  Forum,  v.  10,  p.  618-632,  February,  1891. 

Comey,  Arthur  M.,  "  The  Growth  of  New  England  col 
leges,"  EDUCATIONAL  REVIEW,  v.  i,  p.  209-210,  March,  1891 


1903]  The  Baccalaureate  course  119 

Oilman,  Daniel  C,  "  The  Shortening  of  the  college  cur- 
riculum," EDUCATIONAL  REVIEW,  v.  i,  p.  1-7,  January,  1891. 

Harris,  George,  "  The  Age  of  Graduation  at  Amherst  Col- 
lege, 1830-1900,"  EDUCATIONAL  REVIEW,  v.  25,  p.  525-7, 
May,  1903. 

Shaler,  N.  S.,  "  The  Use  and  limits  of  academic  culture," 
Atlantic  monthly,  v.  66,  p.  160-170,  August,  1890. 

Annual  report  of  the  President  of  Columbia  College:  1879-80 
(Barnard),  p.  44-56;  1885-86  (Barnard),  p.  14-37;  1890-91 
(Low),  p.  48-52;  1901-02  (Butler),  p.  29-49. 

Annual  report  of  the  President  of  Cornell  University 
(Adams),  1889-90,  p.  20-22. 

Report  of  the  President  of  Harvard  College  (Eliot),  1883-84, 
p.  36-37;  1885-86,  p.  14;  1886-87,  p.  14,  16-17,  75,  76,  80; 
1887-88,  p.  12-13,  81-83;  1888-89,  P-  2I>  116-119;  1890-91, 

P-  7-9- 

University  of  Michigan,  The  President's  Report  (Angell), 
for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1890,  p.  14-18. 

Report  of  the  President  of  Yale  University  (Hadley),  for  the 
academic  year  1901-1902,  p.  13-29,  42-51. 

ELMER  ELLSWORTH  BROWN 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


IT 
THE  LENGTH  OF  THE  COLLEGE  COURSE1 

The  period  devoted  to  professional  education  has  been 
more  than  doubled  within  the  last  forty  years  in  the 
United  States,  except  in  the  divinity  schools,  where 
three  years  were  early  required  and  are  still  required. 
In  Judge  Story's  law  school  at  Harvard  the  period 
of  residence  was  eighteen  months.  It  is  now  three 
years.  In  1869-70  the  period  of  required  residence  in  the  Har- 
vard Medical  School  was  four  months  in  each  of  three  years. 
It  is  now  nine  months  in  each  of  four  years.  This  tendency 
to  increase  the  period  of  professional  instruction  has  by  no 
means  exhausted  itself;  and,  inasmuch  as  the  amount  of  pro- 
fessional knowledge  and  skill  to  be  acquired  by  every  student 
is  steadily  increasing,  we  must  expect  more  and  more  time  to 
be  devoted  to  professional  education.  This  tendency  is  by  no 
means  to  be  regretted.  The  advanced  studies  of  professional 
schools  supply  a  better  training  than  the  elementary  studies  of 
school  and  college;  and  they  are  generally  pursued  by  the  pro- 
fessional student  with  greater  zeal  and  energy  than  either 
schoolboys  or  college  students  manifest;  but,  inasmuch  as  it 
is  the  interest  of  society  and  the  interest  of  the  individual  that 
young  men  should  be  enabled  to  enter,  well  trained,  on  the  prac- 
tice of  a  profession  by  the  time  they  are  twenty-five  years  old, 
it  follows  that  the  period  of  training  preliminary  or  preparatory 
to  professional  training  should  come  to  its  end  by  the  time  the 
young  men  are  twenty-one  years  old. 

If  we  ask,  next,  at  what  age  a  boy  who  has  had  good  op- 
portunities may  best  leave  his  secondary  school — whether  a  high 
school  in  a  city,  or  a  country  academy,  or  an  endowed  or  private 
school  for  the  sons  of  well-to-do  parents — the  most  reasonable 

1  A  paper  read  before  the  Department  of  Higher  Education  of  the  National 
Educational  Association  at  Boston,  Mass.,  July  7,  1903. 


The  length  of  the  college  course  1 2 1 

answer  is  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  At  that  age  the  average  boy 
is  ready  for  the  liberty  of  a  college  or  technical  school,  and  will 
develop  more  rapidly  in  freedom  than  under  the  constant  super- 
vision of  parents  or  schoolmasters.  Seventeen  is,  for  the  aver- 
age boy,  rather  young  for  college  freedom,  tho  safe  for 
steady  boys  of  exceptional  maturity.  Between  the  secondary 
school  and  the  professional  school,  then,  there  can  be,  as  a  rule, 
only  three  years  for  the  college.  The  American  colleges  have 
been  peculiar  in  expecting  so  long  a  residence  as  four  years. 
For  the  B.  A.  degree  Oxford  and  Cambridge  have  required 
residence  during  only  three  years,  and  during  much  less  than 
one-half  of  each  of  those  years.  Even  the  honor  men  at  Cam- 
bridge are  in  residence,  as  a  rule,  but  three  years.  Until  recent 
years  the  American  colleges  doubtless  needed  four  years,  because 
of  the  inadequacy  of  the  secondary  schools.  These  schools  hav- 
ing steadily  improved,  and  taken  on  themselves  more  and  more 
of  the  preliminary  training  of  well-educated  youth,  it  is  natural 
that  the  colleges  should  now  be  able  to  relinquish,  without 
lowering  their  own  standards,  a  portion  of  the  time  which  they 
have  heretofore  claimed.  What  portion,  is  the  interesting 
question.  In  the  Latin  countries  the  A.  B.  is  given  at  the  end 
of  the  secondary  school  course.  In  Germany  the  college  course 
and  the  degree  of  A.  B.  have  disappeared  altogether. 

On  this  point  I  confine  myself  to  stating  what 
answer  the  Harvard  Faculty  has  given  to  this  ques- 
tion about  the  relinquishment  of  a  portion  of  the 
time  heretofore  devoted  to  the  college.  The  principle 
on  which  the  Harvard  Faculty  has  acted  is  this:  They  pro- 
pose, in  reducing  the  time  required  for  the  A.  B.  degree  to  three 
years,  to  make  no  reduction  whatever  in  the  amount  of  work 
required  for  that  degree.  In  other  words,  they  propose  that 
the  degree  of  A.  B.,  taken  in  three  years,  shall  represent  the 
same  amount  of  attainment,  or  power  required,  which  the  A.  B. 
taken  in  four  years  has  heretofore  represented.  Under  the 
conditions  which  obtain  at  Harvard,  there  is  no  difficulty  what- 
ever in  bringing  about  this  result.  In  the  first  place  the  Faculty 
has  already  pushed  back  into  the  secondary  schools  a  good  deal 
of  work  of  proper  school  grade  which  used  to  be  done  in  the 


122  Educational   Review  [September 

college.  Secondly,  the  Faculty  requires  the  young  man  who 
takes  his  degree  in  three  years  to  pass  exactly  the  same  number 
of  examinations  on  the  same  number  of  courses  as  are  required 
of  the  man  who  takes  the  degree  in  four  years.  This  demand 
can  be  readily  met  by  the  student,  because  the  long  summer 
vacations  can  be  utilized,  and  the  ordinary  pace  or  rate  of  work 
of  the  student  in  the  four-years'  course  can  be  considerably 
accelerated  by  the  ambitious  man  who  proposes  to  take  his 
degree  in  three  years.  There  are  three  months  and  two-thirds 
of  vacation  at  Harvard  in  every  academic  year — a  superfluous 
amount.  The  standard  of  work  in  the  four-years'  course  for 
the  Harvard  A.  B.  was  decidedly  lower  than  the  standard  of 
work  in  any  of  the  Harvard  professional  schools.  It  is  one 
of  the  advantages  of  the  three-year  plan  that  it  raises  this 
standard  of  work  during  the  college  residence.  Pursuing  this 
general  policy  that  the  requirements  for  the  A.  B.  are  not  to  be 
diminished,  the  Harvard  Faculty  fixes  the  minimum  regular 
residence  for  the  Harvard  A.  B.  at  three  years.  They  do  not 
believe  that  the  residence  can  be  reduced  to  two  years  without 
diminishing  the  amount  of  work  required  for  the  degree. 

At  several  different  times  it  was  proposed  in  the 
Harvard  Faculty  that  they  adopt  the  principle  of  count- 
ing the  first  year  spent  in  one  the  professional  schools 
towards  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  as  well  as  towards  the 
degree  of  the  professional  school;  but  the  Faculty  always 
rejected  that  proposal,  on  the  ground  that  this  method 
implied  a  reduction  of  one-quarter  in  the  requirements 
for  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  and  indeed  of  more  than  one-quarter, 
because  the  senior  year  ought  to  be  a  better  year  than  the  fresh- 
man year.  To  accentuate  this  determination  not  to  abate  the 
requirements  for  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  while  shortening  the  period 
of  residence,  the  Faculty  for  .some  years  required  persons  who 
were  to  take  the  degree  in  three  years  to  obtain  higher  marks  or 
grades  than  were  required  of  persons  who  took  the  degree  in  four 
years.  This  particular  requirement  has  now  been  removed ;  but 
it  was  useful  during  the  years  of  transition,  because  it  made  it 
evident  that  the  three-years'  man,  on  the  average,  had  made 
greater  attainments  than  the  average  four-years'  man.  The 


19°$]  The  length  of  the  college  course  123 

governing  boards  of  the  university  have  had  precisely  the 
same  intentions  as  the  Faculty;  so  that  insistence  on  the  previ- 
ous sum  of  the  attainments  for  the  degree  is  the  characteristic 
feature  of  the  evolution  at  Harvard.  The  result  has  been 
brought  about  by  the  use  of  the  Harvard  admission  examina- 
tions to  raise  the  standards  of  the  secondary  schools,  by  the 
utilization  of  parts  of  the  long  summer  vacation,  and  by  en- 
couraging students  to  put  more  work  into  the  day  and  into  the 
year  while  they  are  in  residence  for  the  A.  B. 

The  Harvard  Faculty  has  endeavored  to  hold  fast  to  the 
actual  facts  of  the  case.  It  says  nothing  about  an  A.  B.  in  five 
years,  because  none  but  men  in  some  way  disabled  spend  five 
years  in  getting  a  bachelor's  degree.  It  does  not  try  to  bring 
boys  to  college  in  large  number  at  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of 
age;  but  it  has  for  years  advised  that  they  come  at  eighteen 
instead  of  nineteen.  It  offers  the  bachelor's  degree  in  three 
years  or  three  and  a  half  years,  instead  of  four  years,  because 
many  students  can  win  the  degree  in  these  shorter  periods  of 
residence  without  any  lowering  of  the  standard.  In  short,  it 
proposes  to  hold  everything  it  has  won  for  the  college  and  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and  to  meet  the  claims  of  profes- 
sional education  by  better  organization  of  the  whole  course  of 
education  from  beginning  to  end,  by  better  methods  of  teach- 
ing, and  by  large  and  early  freedom  of  choice  among  different 
studies. 

While  this  change  was  going  on  in  Harvard  College,  the 
university  took  the  important  step  of  requiring  the  A.  B.  for 
admission  to  its  three  oldest  professional  schools,  first  in  the 
Divinity  School,  then  in  the  Law  School,  and  lastly  in  the  Medi- 
cal School.  It  had  already  established  the  Graduate  School  in 
Arts  and  Sciences,  for  admission  to  which  a  preliminary  degree 
was,  of  course,  required.  It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  that  this 
action  gives  the  strongest  possible  support  to  the  A.  B.  If  taken 
by  the  leading  universities  of  the  country  at  large,  it  would 
settle  at  once  in  the  affirmative  the  question  of  the  continued 
existence  of  the  American  college.  To  preserve  the  college, 
the  sure  way  is  to  keep  down  the  age  for  leaving  the  secondary 
school,  abbreviate  the  college  course  to  three  years,  and  require 


124  Educational  Review  [September 

the  A.  B.  for  admission  to  university  professional  schools. 
Then  we  may  avoid  what  has  happened  in  all  the  nations  of 
Continental  Europe,  namely,  the  disappearance  of  the  college 
course  for  the  A.  B. 

AThe  requirement  of  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  for  ad- 
mission to  the  professional  schools  has  the  happiest  effect  on 
the  whole  course  of  professional  study.  The  classes  in  the  pro- 
fessional schools  become  at  once  more  homogeneous  in  quality, 
and  that  quality  is  distinctly  higher  than  before.  To  believe 
that  any  other  result  were  possible  would  be  to  discredit  the 
college  course  itself. 

The  objections  to  this  very  decided  improvement  are  two. 
It  is  alleged  in  the  first  place,  that  the  professional  schools  of 
the  universities  cannot  bear  the  reduction  in  their  number  of 
students  which  would  follow  the  enforcement  of  this  require- 
ment. Doubtless  there  would  be  some  temporary  diminution 
in  the  number  of  students ;  but  the  experience  at  Harvard  shows 
that  this  reduction  would  be  only  temporary.  The  reduction 
is  lessened,  if  four  or  five  years'  notice  of  the  change  is  given. 
After  a  few  years,  the  reduction  would  be  overcome.  Indeed, 
in  the  Harvard  Law  School,  the  number  of  students  rapidly 
increased  after  the  requirement  of  a  degree  for  admission  to 
the  school.  As  a  rule,  the  men  already  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  a  profession  approve  and  actively  support  all  measures  which 
tend  to  raise  the  standard  of  education  for  their  profession. 
This  pecuniary  argument,  therefore,  may  safely  be  regarded  as 
one  of  only  temporary  and  limited  force.  The  other  objection 
is  a  sentimental  one.  It  is  said  that  the  requirement  of  a  de- 
gree for  admission  to  all  professional  schools  would  exclude 
some  young  men  of  remarkable  powers,  who  have  had  no  oppor- 
tunities in  their  earlier  years  to  obtain  a  good,  systematic  edu- 
cation. The  obvious  answer  to  this  objection  is  that  the  organ- 
ized institutions  of  education  are  not  planned  for  geniuses,  and 
that  geniuses  do  not  need  them.  Moreover,  it  is  not  supposed 
that  all  the  professional  schools  of  the  country  would  make  this 
requirement.  There  would  doubtless  be  plentv  of  private-ven- 
ture schools  in  the  large  cities,  which  would  receive  young 
men  of  an  appropriate  age  without  the  slightest  inquiry  into 


19°3]  The  length  of  the  college  course  125 

their  preliminary  education.  That  is  the  case  to-day,  and  the 
proposed  change  in  university  policy  would,  of  course,  be  an 
advantage  to  such  schools.  The  question  before  us,  in  this 
Department  of  Higher  Education,  is  what  the  universities 
ought  to  do.  I  urge  that  the  universities  should  maintain  each 
its  present  standard  for  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  but 
should  permit  young  men  who  are  capable  of  reaching  that 
standard  in  three  years  of  residence  to  take  the  degree  in  three 
years ;  and,  secondly,  that,  with  notice  of  not  less  than  four 
years,  they  should  require  some  bachelor's  degree  in  arts  or 
sciences  for  admission  to  their  professional  schools.  The  long 
notice  will  enable  parents,  schools,  and  the  whole  community 
to  adapt  themselves  to  the  change.  The  greater  the  number 
of  universities  which  unite  in  this  movement,  the  more  easily 
will  it  be  brought  about. 

It  will  be  observed,  perhaps,  that  I  have  said  nothing  about 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  or  Bachelor  of  Philosophy. 
My  reason  is  that  I  regard  those  degrees  as  only  temporary  and 
inferior  substitutes  for  the  traditional  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts.  I  believe  that  these  lesser  degrees  will  disappear  as 
soon  as  an  adequate  variety  of  studies  is  allowed  to  count 
towards  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Towards  this  ad- 
mirable consummation  the  Harvard  Faculty  has  already  taken 
some  important  steps.  Thus,  many  college  studies  can  be 
counted  toward  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science;  and  many 
of  the  studies  originally  introduced  into  the  university  thru 
the  Scientific  School  may  be  counted  towards  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts.  Again,  in  1903  and  thereafter,  the  require- 
ments for  admission  to  the  Scientific  School  represent  as  large 
an  amount  of  work  done  at  the  secondary  school  as  the  re- 
quirements for  admission  to  Harvard  College,  altho  the 
number  of  options  is  larger  in  the  Scientific  School 
requirements.  A  very  moderate  increase  in  the  number  of  re- 
quired studies  for  admission  to  the  Scientific  School,  and  in  the 
number  of  optional  studies  allowed  for  admission  to  Harvard 
College,  would  make  the  requirements  for  admission  to  the 
two  departments  identical.  For  a  time,  in  the  development  of 
the  American  universities,  there  was  a  strong  tendency  to  mul- 


126  Educational  Review 

tiply  bachelor  degrees.  For  ten  years  past  the  tendency  has 
been  all  the  other  way.  Until  this  simplification  is  brought 
about,  however,  the  requirement  for  admission  to  the  university 
professional  schools  will  have  to  be  a  bachelor's  degree  in  arts 
or  sciences,  this  description  including  the  miscellaneous  de- 
grees in  letters,  philosophy,  engineering,  etc. 

Finally,  if  a  degree  in  arts  or  sciences  is  to  be  required  for 
admission  to  university  professional  schools,  the  road  to  such 
a  degree  should  be  as  smooth  and  broad  as  possible.  No  ex- 
clusive prescriptions  should  obstruct  it;  and  the  various  needs 
of  the  individual  pupil  should  be  carefully  provided  for  in  both 

school  and  college. 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT 

(   HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


Ill 

THE  LENGTH  OF  THE  COLLEGE  COURSE.1 

The  American  college  is  the  vital  center  of  our  system  of 
higher  education.  With  all  its  imperfections,  it  serves,  as 
probably  no  other  institution  can  serve,  to  uphold  the  standards 
of  the  secondary  schools  and  to  lift  from  below  the  level  of 
professional  schools.  It  occupies  an  intermediate  field  of  its 
own,  not  perfectly  defined,  but  as  clearly  defined  as  the  fields 
of  our  secondary  and  professional  education.  It  should  be  al- 
lowed and  encouraged,  as  they  are,  to  organize  itself  com- 
pletely and  efficiently  according  to  the  laws  of  its  own  life, 
without  curtailment  or  encroachment.  Otherwise  we  shall 
be  in  the  absurd  and  uncivilized  position  of  refusing  to  try  for 
the  best  college  education,  and  shall  be  sacrificing  to  commer- 
cial and  utilitarian  demands  the  one  educational  agency  most 
needed  to  purify  and  elevate  the  too  materialistic  tone  of  our 
American  life. 

By  tradition,  the  length  of  the  college  course  is  four  years. 
This  is  almost  universal.  There  seems  to  be  no  good  reason 
a  priori  why  it  should  have  been  four,  rather  than  five  or 
three,  or  even  two.  But  the  practical  unanimity  of  the  tra- 
dition indicates  that  thus  far  at  least  the  period,  of  four  years 
has  been  found  to  be  well  suited  to  our  needs.  Analyze  this  as 
we  may,  it  is  a  definite  result  of  long  and  wide  experience,  and 
one  which  should  not  be  discarded  without  the  fullest  consider- 
ation. 

It  is  argued,  however,  that  conditions  are  changing,  and 
that  a  shorter  time  must  be  allotted,  if  we  would  save  the 
American  college.  This  argument  rests  mainly  on  the  increas- 
ing age  of  the  student  at  entrance  to  college  and  the  lengthen- 
ing courses  of  the  professional  schools.  The  fact  that  college 

1  A  paper  read  before  the  Department  of    Higher  Education  of  the  National 
Educational  Association  at  Boston,  Mass.,  July  7,  1903. 

127 


128  Educational  Review  [September 

graduates  are  kept  back  from  entering  business  life  until  they 
are  twenty-two  need  not  disturb  us  on  economic  grounds, 
because  it  is  also  a  fact  that  the  marked  increase  of  college  grad- 
uates in  business  life  has  coincided  with  the  very  period  in 
which  the  age  of  graduation  has  been  rising.  But  for  those 
going  into  professional  life  the  case  is  different.  Taking 
eighteen  as  the  average  age  of  entrance  to  college,  adding  four 
years  of  college  and  three  or,  as  it  may  soon  be,  four  years 
of  professional  study,  the  young  doctor  or  lawyer  is  not  fledged 
until  he  is  twenty-six.  A  year,  or  even  two  years,  may  be 
saved  by  reducing  the  length  of  the  college  course. 

Let  us  admit,  at  once,  that  we  are  facing  a  serious  economic 
question.  The  saving  of  a  year  or  two  in  time  and  money  will 
in  many  cases  settle  the  question  as  to  how  extended  an  edu- 
cation a  young  man  can  get.  Young  men  who  must  get  to  law 
or  medicine  by  twenty- four  must  forego  something,  if  they 
enter  college  at  eighteen.  No  device  will  secure  them  eight 
years  of  educated  life  in  six.  The  brighter  and  more  mature 
among  them  may  perhaps  save  a  year  by  entering  college  at 
seventeen.  But  this  does  not  meet  the  general  difficulty.  If 
by  any  chance  they  enter  at  sixteen,  they  will  be  found  as  a 
rule  too  immature  mentally  for  the  studies  and  too  immature 
morally  for  the  life  of  our  large  modern  colleges.  This  solu- 
tion may,  therefore,  be  dismissed  as  insufficient  and  unwise.  If 
the  year  or  two  years  is  to  be  saved,  it  must  be  taken  in  most 
instances  from  college,  or  from  the  professional  school. 

We  may  as  well  admit  that  in  such  cases  the  college  must 
suffer  the  loss,  because  the  intending  doctor  or  lawyer  cannot 
escape  the  demands  of  the  professional  schools.  His  liveli- 
hood is  conditioned  on  completing  his  professional  education, 
and  this  settles  the  matter. 

But  does  it  settle  the  general  question  of  the  proper  length  of 
the  college  course  for  those  who  have  time  to  take  it?  What 
are  we  to  do  with  the  mass  of  students  who  can  take  four  years 
of  college?  Why  must  their  course  be  shortened?  It  is  a 
minority  which  goes  on  to  law  and  medicine.  Some  better 
reason  must  be  found  than  the  fact  that  a  part  of  this  minority 
cannot  remain  four  years.  If  it  were  true,  or  if  it  becomes 


1903]  The  length  of  the  college  course  129 

true,  that  majority  of  young  men  suitable  for  college  cannot 
stay  thruout  the  present  course,  then  it  may  be  a  shorter  course 
must  be  established.  Otherwise  it  does  not  appear  that  we  are 
doing  a  wrong  to  students  by  holding  them  four  years,  unless 
it  can  also  be  shown  that  a  three-year  or  a  two-year  course  is 
intrinsically  better  than  a  four-year  course  for  American 
young  men. 

This  is  to  me  the  one  question  of  real  difficulty.  I  am  unable 
to  see  that  young  men  generally  will  be  better  trained  to  begin 
as  lawyers  at  twenty-four  than  at  twenty-five  or  twenty-six. 
I  am  able  to  see  that  many  cannot  afford  to  wait  so  long,  and 
must  take  what  they  can  get  in  the  shorter  time.  It  is  clear 
that  some  of  them  cannot  take  four  years  in  college.  It  is  also 
clear  that  giving  them  the  bachelor's  degree  at  the  end  of  two 
years  or  three  years  will  not  give  them  an  education  of  four 
years.  It  is  the  time  taken,  as  well  as  the  studies  taken,  that 
counts  heavily,  if  a  permanent  impression  is  to  be  made.  Ex- 
tended time  in  residence  given  to  unhurried  settled  study,  and 
not  rapidly  formed  acquaintance  with  a  series  of  studies,  is 
what  is  needed.  And  when  we  realize  with  what  imperfect 
training  so  many  boys  come  from  the  schools,  it  may  easily 
take  four  years  to  outflank  their  deficiencies,  correct  their 
methods,  and  develop  even  a  semblance  of  liberal  culture. 
S  Why,  then,  if  some  of  them  must  leave  college,  should  they 
not  leave,  as  some  now  do,  at  the  end  of  two  years  or  three 
years,  taking  with  them  their  valuable  half-loaf  or  three- 
quarters  loaf  of  college  life  and  training?  It  is  worth  a  great 
deal  to  them.  They  will  find  most  of  the  professional  schools 
ready  to  receive  them,  and  some  of  them  ready  to  give,  if  not 
the  very  best,  at  least  a  good  professional  education.  The 
best  of  everything  in  education  cannot  be  had  without  taking 
the  best  time  needed.  In  fact  we  are  exaggerating  the  situa- 
tion, for  if  all  professional  schools  would  merely  go  so  far  as  to 
exact  at  least  two  years  of  college  as  prerequisite  to  entrance, 
there  would  be  a  gain  the  country  over  in  the  quality  of  pro- 
fessional students.  It  may  perhaps  be  thought  that  the  three- 
year  course  will  bring  more  students  to  college  and  more  col- 
lege graduates  to  professional  schools.  This  is  a  matter  of 


130  Educational  Review  [September 

speculation.  But  suppose  it  does.  Is  it  clear  that  we  need 
more  college  students  with  shorter  education  than  they  have 
now  ?  Is  it  clear  that  we  need  proportionally  more  doctors  and 
lawyers?  The  desired  gain  in  quality  of  professional  students 
can  be  secured  without  destroying  the  four-year  course,  merely 
by  exacting  generally  three  years  of  college  as  a  minimum  en- 
trance requirement.  Has  any  American  university  gone 
farther  than  this  in  dealing  with  the  students  of  its  own  college 
who  enter  its  own  law  or  medical  school? 

In  the  present  condition  of  affairs  in  our  land,  viewed  in  its 
entirety,  the  question  of  entrance  to  professional  schools  and 
the  question  of  the  proper  length  of  the  college  course  are  two 
distinct  questions.  By  all  means  let  there  be  a  few  leaders 
among  the  professional  schools  exacting  a  college  degree  for 
admission,  especially  if  it  be  possible  to  secure  this  on  the  basis 
of  a  full  college  course,  completed  in  full  time  without 
haste  or  crowding.  The  time  may  perhaps  come  when  all 
good  schools  will  be  able  to  follow  their  example.  But  it 
has  not  come  yet. 

If,  therefore,  the  college  course  is  to  be  shortened,  it  should 
be  because  the  shorter  course  is  intrinsically  better  for  the 
mass  of  college  students.  Is  four  years  of  American  college 
education  better  than  three?  Few  will  doubt  it  is  better  than 
two.  Three  years  or  four  is  the  real  question. 

That  a  change  of  profound  importance  has  come  over  our  col- 
leges in  the  last  thirty  years  none  will  deny.  It  is  a  change  in 
tone  and  spirit.  The  gains  in  diversified  opportunity  and  in 
student  self-government  have  been  immense.  There  have  also 
been  losses.  In  the  large  older  colleges  particularly  there  has 
been  an  accession  of  students  who  are  attracted  more  by  the 
social  and  athletic  life  than  by  studies.  There  has  been  a  relax- 
ing of  effort,  a  disposition  to  look  on  college  life  as  a  pleasant 
social  episode.  The  old-fashioned  college,  with  its  simple  pro- 
gram of  prescribed  studies,  is  gone.  The  so-called  "  elective 
system  "  has  come  in  to  replace  it,  wholly  or  partly.  To  re- 
habilitate the  old  state  of  things  is  impossible  and  undesirable. 
To  endure  the  disintegration  and  confusion  in  intellectual 
standards  which  has  ensued  is  also  undesirable  and,  I  believe, 


ft    UN'  - 

v       or       y 

1903]  The  length  of  the  cott^-£&£&'  \  3 1 

impossible.  The  strength  of  opinion  favorable  to  the  four-year 
course  is  found  to  be  greatest  where  a  large  basis  of  prescribed 
studies  has  been  kept.  The  arguments  for  a  shorter  course  are 
most  influential  where  elective  freedom  prevails  most.  It  is 
possible  to  argue  with  much  effect  for  four  years  when  it  can 
be  shown  that  a  fine  education  is  given  because  of  the  very 
definite  correlation  of  studies  to  one  end,  namely,  the  acquaint- 
ing of  young  men  not  only  with  the  methods  of  knowledge,  but 
with  the  substance  of  things  important  for  all  liberally  educated 
men  to  know,  the  elemental  things  which,  taken  together,  rep- 
resent the  stock  and  staple  of  our  intellectual  inheritance  as  a 
race.  This  takes  considerable  time.  Supplement  this  with  a 
first  exploration  into  the  fields,  or,  far  better,  into  some  definitely 
mapped  field  of  elective  freedom  corresponding  to  the  well- 
ascertained  aptitudes  rather  than  the  chance  likings  of  the 
student,  and  four  years  will  be  found  none  too  much.  A  natu- 
ral break  between  the  two  lower  and  two  upper  years  may  thus 
easily  be  made.  At  this  time,  if  the  hard  necessity  arises  so 
soon,  let  men  leave  who  must  leave  early.  The  bachelor's 
degree  may  then  be  kept  for  those  who  do  the  full  work  in  the 
normal  time.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  four-year  course  is 
in  every  way  worth  maintaining. 

But  if  the  principle  is  to  prevail  that,  once  in  college,  the 
student  is  to  find  all  studies  elective,  the  case  is  very  different. 
No  definite  program  is  completed  for  the  mass  of  students,  so 
far  as  concerns  the  specific  substance  of  what  they  study.  And 
without  this  an  important  common  element  is  subtracted.  A 
certain  effect  is  lost.  The  common  area,  of  liberal  culture,  in 
which  all  educated  men  should  be  at  home,  tends  to  shrink  and 
vanish.  The  solidarity  of  the  student  community,  the  intense 
esprit  de  corps  which  accompanies  movement  by  college 
classes,  the  intimacy  of  the  community  in  things  of  common 
intellectual  acquaintance — all  these  are  weakened  by  disper- 
sion. The  students  are  not  traveling  near  enough  in  the  same 
direction  to  be  within  easy  hail  and  call.  Such  a  condition  is 
anomalous  in  education.  Secondary  education  below  gains  its 
effect  from  the  correlation  of  prescribed  studies,  so  as  to  form 
a  general  gymnastic  of  the  mind.  Professional  education 


132  Educational  Review  [September 

above  is  unattainable  without  the  mastery  of  correlated  sub- 
jects prescribed  for  all.  The  inner  relations  of  the  subjects  stud- 
ied, and  not  the  preferences  of  immature  minds,  form  the  basis 
for  an  organized  course  of  study,  and  should  have  much  to  do, 
perhaps  most  to  do,  with  determining  the  length  of  any  course. 
College  education  alone,  under  the  plan  of  free  election,  is  being 
allowed  to  wander  aimlessly,  as  tho  there  were  no  general  and 
necessary  rational  relations  according  to  which  college  studies 
should  be  combined  as  they  are  in  other  fields  of  education. 
The  student's  preference,  so  often  determined  by  inadequate 
knowledge  or  an  easy-going  following  of  the  line  of  least  re- 
sistance, is  dignified  by  the  name  of  "  election  "  and  the  be- 
wildering mass  of  elective  studies  offered  him  is  seriously  called 
a  "  system."  "  System  "  it  may  be  to  others,  but  not  to  him. 

How  can  a  definite  argument  for  a  discipline  and  culture  of 
four  years,  rather  than  of  three  years,  be  erected  on  such  a 
basis?  We  need  not  waste  time  in  exploring  the  tangle  of 
inner  reasons  which  indicate  that  the  indefiniteness  and  hetero- 
geneity of  a  free  elective  course  may  be  a  proper,  even  an 
urgent  reason  for  shortening  it.  The  mere  fact  that  the 
movement  for  a  three-year  course  is  strongest  where  elective 
freedom  is  least  restricted  is  enough  indication  that  a  powerful 
cause  operating  inside  the  college  course  to  shorten  it  is  the 
inability  of  a  purely  elective  scheme  to  fill  out  four  years  with 
profit  to  the  mass  of  students. 

If  the  proposal  were  made  to  change  a  four-year  course  in 
elective  studies  to  a  three-year  course  with  a  large  basis  of 
prescribed  studies,  I  confess  the  three-year  course  would  seem 
to  me  a  marked  improvement.  And  unless  something  is  done 
to  reduce  the  tangle  to  order,  the  three-year  course  seems  to 
be  inevitable  in  some  places.  But  if  the  proposal  be  to  reduce 
the  other  type  of  four-year  course  to  three  years,  then  the  loss 
is  not  only  unnecessary,  but  is  in  every  way  undesirable,  be- 
cause it  is  the  loss  of  the  crowning  year  in  a  definitely  rounded 
plan,  the  consummate  college  year  of  intellectual  development, 
privilege,  and  satisfaction. 

On  the  colleges,  therefore,  which  believe  in  maintaining  a 
large  basis  of  prescribed  studies  as  the  one  sure  foundation  for 


1903]  The  length  of  the  college  course  133 

a  rational  plan  of  subsequent  elective  studies  will  rest  the  duty 
of  maintaining  a  four-year  course.  They  will  need  to  make 
sure  that  they  work  out  their  program  in  true  accordance  with 
their  academic  confession  of  faith  and  secure  to  their  students 
at  all  hazards  the  few  fundamental  studies,  well  and  amply 
taught.  They  will  need  to  be  resolute  in  teaching  young  men  that 
there  is  no  real  education  without  well-directed  effort,  that  it  is 
not  doing  what  a  man  likes  or  dislikes  to  do,  but  the  constant 
•exercise  in  doing  what  he  ought  to  do  in  matters  of  intellect  as 
well  as  of  conduct,  whether  he  happens  to  like  it  or  not,  that 
turns  the  frank,  careless,  immature,  lovable  schoolboy  into 
the  strong,  well-trained  man,  capable  of  directing  wisely  him- 
self and  others.  If  they  fail  to  do  this  with  measurable  suc- 
cess, they  fail  to  justify  their  contention.  If  they  succeed,  the 
American  college  course  of  traditional  length  and  largely  pre- 
scribed content  may  be  trusted  to  justify  itself  triumphantly. 

ANDREW  F.  WEST 

PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 


IV 
THE  LENGTH  OF  THE  COLLEGE  COURSE  * 

In  view  of  the  time  allotted,  I  limit  my  statement  to  the  pres- 
entation of  some  considerations  which  appear  to  me  to  be 
distinctly  opposed  to  the  proposition  to  make  three  years  the 
normal  period  of  residence  for  the  college  course  instead  of 
four. 

Some  students  are,  unquestionably,  able  to  complete  the 
course  in  three  years.  About  the  same  number  should  perhaps, 
to  do  the  work  equally  well,  take  five  years.  The  question 
before  us,  however,  is  not  one  that  relates  to  a  small  proportion 
of  the  students  who  enter  college — the  very  brightest  or  the 
very  dullest.  It  is  a  question  which  has  to  do  with  the  normal 
college  course,  that  is,  the  course  of  study  intended  for  the 
average  student. 

It  is  easy  to  point  out  the  origin  of  the  difficulty  which  con- 
fronts us  and  has  given  rise  to  the  proposition  itself.  It  is  a 
survival  of  the  old  idea  which  made  the  college  curriculum  some- 
thing rigid,  something  into  conformity  with  which  every  stu- 
dent must  be  brought,  rather  than  something  which  should  be 
made  to  conform  to  each  individual  student.  It  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  this  suggestion  that  the  first  discussion  of  the 
question  took  place  in  an  atmosphere  friendly  to  the  elective 
policy,  in  distinction  from  the  policy  of  a  fixed  curriculum. 
Adaptation  to  the  needs  of  the  individual  along  certain  lines 
did  not  in  this  case  carry  with  it  flexibility  and  adaptation  in 
other  lines.  It  is  not  an  adaptation  of  the  college  course  to  the 
needs  of  individual  men  to  propose  that  the  course  shall  be  a 
three-year  one.  An  adaptation  would  permit  four  years  for 
those  who  need  four  years,  five  years  for  those  who  need  five 
years,  and  three  years  for  those  who  are  able  to  do  the  work  in 
three  years. 

1  A  paper  read  before  the  Department  of  Higher  Education  of  the  National 
Educational  Association  at  Boston,  Mass.,  July  7,  1903. 

134 


The  length  of  the  college  course  135 

1.  The  proposition  for  a  three-year  course  is  based  upon  the 
supposition  that  the  entire  work  of  the  college  course  is  really 
university  work.     Tlhis  is  a  mistaken  supposition.     The  work 
of  the  freshman  and  sophomore  years  is  ordinarily  of  the  same 
scope  and  character  as  that  of  the  preceding  years  in  the 
academy  or  high  school.    To  cut  off  a  full  year  means  either 
the  crowding  of  this  higher  preparatory  or  college  work  of 
the  freshman  and  sophomore  years,  or  the  shortening  of  the 
real  university  work  done  in  the  junior  and  senior  years  of  the 
college  course.     The  adoption  of  either  of  these  alternatives 
will  occasion  a  serious  loss  to  the  student.    The  average  man  is 
not  prepared  to  take  up  university  work  until  he  has  reached 
the  end  of  the  sophomore  year.     No  greater  mistake  is  being 
made  in  the  field  of  higher  education  than  the  confusion  which 
is  coming  to  exist  between  college  and  university  methods  of 
work.    The  adoption  of  a  three-year  college  term  will  only  add 
to  a  confusion  already  great. 

2.  The  suggestion  rests  upon  an  incorrect  idea  as  to  the  age 
of  students  beginning  work.    The  average  age  of  students  en- 
tering college  to-day  is  about  the  same  as  it  was  twenty-five  and 
fifty  years  ago.     The  average  age  of  students  leaving  college 
to-day  is  about  the  same  as  it  was  twenty-five  or  fifty  years 
ago.    The  serious  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  demands  of 
professional   education    are   greater   to-day   than   they   were 
twenty-five  or  fifty  years  ago,  and  that,  instead  of  courses  of 
professional  study  extending  over  two  years,  we  are  confronted 
with  courses  of  professional  study  extending  over  three  or  four 
years.     It  is  a  point  of  special  interest,  however,  that,  altho  the 
requirements  for  entrance  to  college  are  so  much  greater  than 
they  were  in  former  years,  the  student  masters  these  require- 
ments and  enters  at  practically  the  same  age.    In  other  words, 
better  educational  facilities  have  made  it  possible  to  graduate 
the  young  man  at  the  same  age,  but  with  nearly  two  years  of 
additional  work.    With  all  this  gain  it  is  apparent  to  any  stu- 
dent of  the  situation  that  even  yet  there  is  great  waste,  and 
that  a  better  arrangement  of  the  curriculum  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  educational  work  will  make  it  possible  for  one  or  two  ad- 
ditional years  to  be  gained.     With  the  multiplication  of  high 


136  Educational  Review  [September 

.schools  and  their  greater  efficiency,  and  with  the  consequent 
improvement  in  the  grammar  schools,  much  may  be  expected. 
It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  a  practical  limit  has  been 
reached,  so  far  as  concerns  the  requirements  for  admission  to 
college.  With  this  limit  fixed,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  ex- 
pect that  on  the  basis  of  the  present  requirements  a  boy  may 
reach  college  one  or  two  years  earlier  within  the  next  decade. 
This  will  counterbalance  the  increase  of  time  required  in  the 
professional  schools  referred  to  above.  It  is,  therefore,  un- 
necessary to  shorten  the  college  course  merely  to  provide  for  an 
extension  of  the  professional  course. 

3.  The  proposition  is  based  upon  a  wrong  idea  of  the  high 
school.     This  institution  is  no  longer  a  school  preparatory  for 
college.    In  its  most  fully  developed  form  it  covers  at  least  one- 
half  the  ground  of  the  college  of  fifty  years  ago.     It  is  a  real 
college;  at  all  events,  it  provides  the  earlier  part  of  a  college 
course.    Its  work  may  not  be  separated  from  that  of  the  fresh- 
man and  sophomore  years  either  in  method  or  scope.     Many 
high  schools  are  actually  moving  forward  to  include  in  their 
curriculum  the  work  of  the  freshman  and  sophomore  years.    In 
these  schools  the  entire  college  course,  as  it  was  known  fifty 
years  ago,  besides  the  additional  work  in  science  which  at  that 
time  was  unknown,  is  included.    This  development  of  the  high 
school  has  a  significant  bearing  upon  the  question  before  us. 
Plow  is  this  new  college,  the  product  of  our  own  generation, 
to  be  brought  into  relationship  with  the  old  college  which  has 
come  down  to  us  from  our  ancestors  ?    The  correct  appreciation 
of  the  modern  high  school  and  its  proper  adjustment  to  the  sit- 
uation as  a  whole  make  strongly  against  the  proposed  three- 
year  course. 

4.  The  adoption  of  the  three-year  policy  by  the  larger  insti- 
tutions would  be  followed  immediately  by  an  increase  of  re- 
quirements for  admission  to  the  first  year  of  college  work. 
This  fact  is  seen  in  the  history  of  the  college  of  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins University.    While  high  schools  as  such  show  a  tendency 
to  increase  the  scope  of  their  work,  and  while  this  tendency  is 
certainly  to  be  encouraged,  such  increase  should  be  accepted  as 
a  substitute  for  the  work  of  the  college,  but  not  as  an  addi- 


19°3]  The  length  of  the  college  course  137 

tional  requirement  for  admission  to  the  college.  Our  present 
difficulties  have  their  origin  partly  in  the  fact  that  from  time 
to  time  we  have  increased  the  requirements  for  admission  to 
college  until,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  a  fairly  good 
college  course  of  instruction  is  now  obtained  before  the  so- 
called  college  work  begins.  This  is  an  evil  which  should  be 
corrected,  and  its  correction  lies  in  the  direction  of  reducing 
the  requirements  for  admission  rather  than  in  increasing  them. 
The  evil  would  be  intensified  by  the  adoption  of  the  three-year 
policy. 

5.  The  proposition  is  based  upon  the  supposition  that  the 
time  requirement  is  the  essential  thing.    Starting  from  the  tra- 
dition that  the  college  course  must  be  four  years  for  all  men 
of  whatever  grade,  it  proceeds  upon  the  assumption  that,  for 
various  reasons,  this  period,  now  the  same  for  all  students, 
must  continue  to  be  the  same  for  all  students,  namely,  the 
three-year  period.     No  idea  has  exerted  a  more  injurious  in- 
fluence in  the  history  of  college  work  than  that  the  period 
of  four  years,  however  employed,  if  spent  in  college  residence, 
guaranteed  a  college  education.    It  is  questionable  whether  the 
time  limit  in  the  undergraduate  course  is  any  more  important 
a  factor  than  the  time  limit  in  the  work  for  the  doctor's  degree. 
This  fondness  for  a  time  limit,  which  is  the  fundamental  basis 
of  the  three-year  proposition,  is  a  survival  of  the  old  class 
system  which  disappeared  long  ago  in  the  larger  institutions, 
and  is  beginning  to  show  decadence  even  in  the  smaller  institu- 
tions. 

6.  The  proposition  is  likewise  to  be  opposed  because  of  its 
deleterious  influence  upon  the  smaller  colleges.    The  American 
college  is  the  glory  of  American  spiritual  life,  and  its  existence 
must  not  be  endangered.    Granting  that  the  larger  institutions 
could  adopt  without  injury  the  three-year  planj  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  the  smaller  colleges  so  to  do.     TWO  things  would 
follow:  (a)  the  decadence  of  the  better  colleges  of  this  class, 
and  (b)  the  adoption  of  the  policy  by  colleges  only  slightly 
above  the  grade  of  high  schools.     When  it  comes  to  be  seen 
that  the  college  system  is  adjusted  in  its  entirety  with  a  view 
to  its  relationship  to  the  professional  schools,  and  that  it  is 


138  Educational  Review  [September 

only  a  second  college  course  following  a  first  college  course 
already  received  in  the  high  school,  the  tendency  will  be  to  go 
directly  from  the  high  school  to  the  university — a  tendency 
to  be  discouraged  as  urgently  as  possible.  Moreover,  the  col- 
leges of  lower  grade  will  at  once  reduce  their  period  to  one  of 
three  years,  even  tho  their  curriculum  be  greatly  inferior  to  that 
of  the  larger  institution.  In  other  words,  the  step  proposed,  in 
spite  of  protestations  to  the  contrary,  means,  in  the  end,  a 
lowering  of  requirements  thruout  the  field  of  higher  education. 

7.  Less  than  four  years  for  a  boy  who  enters  college  at  the 
right  age,  sixteen  or  seventeen,  is  too  short  a  time.    The  adop- 
tion, however,  of  the  three-year  course  will  compel  every  boy 
to  limit  his  college  course  to  three  years.     This  is  a  serious 
difficulty.     On  the  present  basis  he  may  take  one,  two,  three, 
or  four  years  according  to  circumstances.    On  the  new  plan  he 
would  be  limited  to  three  years,  so  far  as  collge  work  is  con- 
cerned.    With  the  immense  increase  in  attendance  at  college 
which  has  come  within  the  last  decade  on  the  four-year  basis, 
why  should  we  deliberately  plan  to  reduce  the  time  to  three 
years?     Surely  a  preparation  will  be  needed  in  the  years  to 
come  as  full  and  long  as  in  the  years  that  are  passed.    The  one 
place  in  which  it  is  unnecessary  and  undesirable  to  cut  down 
the  time  of  those  who  are  willing  and  able  to  take  four  years 
is  in  the  college  period.     Let  the  time  be  shortened  in  the 
earlier  years,  but  at  this  stage  of  preparation,,  with  the  great 
number  of  subjects  which  may  profitably  be  considered,  let 
us  have  all  the  time  possible. 

8.  The  suggestion  of  the  third-year  course  ignores  the  cul- 
ture value  of  the  subjects  in  the  first  year  of  professional  work. 
For  my  own  part  I  cannot  conceive  any  work  more  valuable 
to  a  young  man  or  woman,  from  the  point  of  view  of  citizen- 
ship and  general  culture,  than  the  first  year's  work  in  the  cur- 
riculum of  the  law  school,  the  medical  school,  the  divinity 
school,  or  the  school  of  education.    In  any  one  of  these  groups 
the  student  is  brought  into  contact  with  living  questions.    The 
fact  that  the  method  of  professional  schools  is  different  is,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  a  distinct  advantage,  and  in  no  case  an 
injury,  since  it  serves  as  a  corrective  of  a  tendency  toward  dilet- 


I9°3]  The  length  of  the  college  course  139 

tanteism  unquestionably  encouraged  by  the  more  lax  methods 
of  the  later  years  of  college  work.  If  any  one  question  has  been 
settled  in  the  educational  discussion  of  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  it  is  that  a  line  is  no  longer  to  be  drawn  between  this 
class  of  subjects  and  that,  on  the  ground  that  one  group,  and 
not  the  other,  may  be  regarded  as  culture-producing.  The  op- 
portunity to  elect  subjects  of  this  character  in  the  last  year  of 
the  college  course  does  not  injure  the  integrity  of  the  college. 
It  must  be  confessed  that  the  adoption  of  this  policy  by  larger 
institutions  introduces  a  difficulty  for  the  smaller  institutions, 
but  this  difficulty  is  not  insuperable,  and  several  ways  have  been 
already  suggested  for  meeting  it. 

9.  The  proposition,  as  already  hinted,  subordinates  the  col- 
lege almost  wholly  to  the  professional  school.    It  is  largely  be- 
cause of  the  increased  demands  of  the  professional  schools  that 
it  seems  necessary  to  shorten  the  college  course.    This  does  not 
seem  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  fact  that  a  comparatively  small 
number  of  students  really  expect  to  enter  professional  schools. 
Why  should  students  who  do  not  have  the  professional  school 
in  mind  be  required  to  shorten  the  term  of  college  residence? 
If  it  is  answered  that  the  student  who  enters  any  line  of  busi- 
ness activity  needs  the  year  thus  saved  in  order  that  he  may 
begin  his  work  earlier,  it  may  be  said  that  the  facts  do  not  bear 
out  this  proposition ;  and,  in  any  case,  a  year  of  business  is  not 
to  be  treated  as  a  year  of  college  work  in  the  sense  that  it  is 
equivalent  to  the  first  year's  course  of  study  in  a  professional 
school.     It  is  therefore  as  inexpedient  to  adjust  the  whole  col- 
lege policy  to  the  supposed  needs  of  a  minority  who  are  plan- 
ning to  enter  the  professional  school  as  it  is  to  adjust  the  whole 
policy  of  a  high  school  to  the  needs  of  a  minority  who  enter 
college. 

10.  In  conclusion  it  is  to  be  urged  in  opposition  to  the  pro- 
posed movement  that  it  is  in  general  contrary  to  the  drift  of 
educational  movements,  and  that  the  very  thing  which  it  pro- 
poses can  easily  be  scured  by  other  means.    Among  other 
educational    tendencies    to-day    may   be    cited    (a)    that    of 
the    high    school    to     enlarge    its    scope    and    add    to    its 
curriculum    one    or    two    vears    of    additional    work:     (b) 


140  Educational  Review 

that  of  strengthening  of  the  facilities  and  curriculum  of 
the  average  smaller  college;  (c)  that  of  avoiding  the 
waste  in  the  earlier  years,  and  the  consequent  possibility 
of  college  entrance  at  an  earlier  age;  (d)  that  of  distinct  sepa- 
ration between  college  and  university  methods.  To  each  and 
all  of  these  the  proposition  stands  opposed. 

Following  the  example  of  one  of  the  speakers  this  morning, 
I  would  suggest  that  the  plan  which  has  been  in  operation  at 
the  University  of  Chicago  for  nearly  ten  years  has  seemed  to 
many  of  us  to  meet  in  large  measure  the  demands  called  for  this 
morning.  This  plan  provides  a  course  of  four  years  and  a 
course  of  two  years.  It  permits  students  of  exceptional  ability 
to  do  the  work  in  three  years.  It  makes  it  possible  for  those 
who  so  desire  to  prolong  the  work  to  five  years.  It  is  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  individuals  of  different  classes.  With  the  com- 
pletion of  the  two-year  course  a  certificate  is  given,  granting 
the  title  of  Associate  in  the  University.  This,  for  the  present, 
is  sufficient  in  the  way  of  a  degree.  To  students  who  maintain 
a  standing  of  the  highest  grade  certain  concessions  are  made. 

The  details  of  the  plan  have  been  worked  out  as  experience 
has  indicated  the  need.  The  provision  of  a  two-year  course 
meets  the  need  of  many  who  cannot  take  a  longer  term  of 
residence  and  likewise  of  many  who  ought  not  to  take  a  longer 
course.  The  provision  of  a  normal  four-year  course  meets  the 
need  of  the  average  man  or  woman.  This  plan  does  not  imply 
that  this  average  man  or  woman  who  spends  four  years  in 
residence  is  particularly  stupid,  or  that  a  year  has  been  wasted. 

It  is  believed,  from  an  experience  of  ten  or  more  years,  that 
it  contains  the  solution  'of  at  least  many  of  the  points  now 

under  discussion. 

WILLIAM  R.  HARPER 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


THE  LENGTH  OF  THE  COLLEGE  COURSE  x 

In  my  judgment  most  participants  in  the  discussion  now 
going  on  thruout  the  land  as  to  the  length  of  the  baccalureate 
course  and  the  preparation  for  the  professional  schools,  err  in 
supposing  that  the  two  questions  are  necessarily  reducible  to 
one  and  also  in  taking  hold  of  that  one  by  the  wrong  end.  The 
nature,  content,  and  proper  length  of  the  baccalaureate  course 
are  matters  quite  independent  of  the  proper  standards  of  pro- 
fessional education  and  are  entitled  to  consideration  on  their 
own  merits. 

The  one  question  to  which  the  two  are  usually  reduced  is 
taken  hold  by  the  wrong  end  when  it  is  said  that  the  bacca- 
laureate course  should  be  of  a  stated  length,  say  four  years  or 
three  years,  and  that  everything  else  in  education  and  in  life 
must  adapt  itself  accordingly.  Those  who  take  this  stand  give 
us  no  clear  notion  of  (i)  where  the  baccalauerate  course  be- 
gins, (2)  what  it  consists  of,  or  (3)  what  it  exists  for.  They 
assume  that  all  of  these  points  are  clearly  understood  and  gen- 
erally agreed  upon.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth. 
Not  even  the  so-called  reputable  colleges  are  in  anything  ap- 
proaching agreement  as  to  the  standard  to  be  enforced  for  ad- 
mission to  the  baccalaureate  course;  and  while  there  is  an  ex- 
ternal pretense  of  unanimity  as  to  what  the  baccalaureate 
course  exists  for,  that  course  is,  nevertheless,  in  too  many  in- 
stances, fearfully  and  wonderfully  made.  Dr.  Wayland  said 
over  sixty  years  ago  that  "  there  is  nothing  magical  or  im- 
perative in  the  term  of  four  years,  nor  has  it  any  natural  re- 
lation to  a  course  of  study.  It  was  adopted  as  a  matter  of  ac- 
cident, and  can  have,  by  itself,  no  important  bearing  on  the 
subject  in  hand."  To  suppose  that  a  four-year  baccalaureate 

1  A  paper  read  before  the  Department  of  Higher   Education  of  the    National 
Educational  Association,  at  Boston,  Mass.,  July  7,  1903. 

141 


Educational  Review  [September 

course  is  necessary  semper,  ubique,  ab  omnibus,  is  to  elevate  an 
accident  to  the  plane  of  a  principle. 

Others  take  hold  of  the  question  by  the  middle.  They  fix  an 
arbitrary  age  at  which  professionally  trained  men  should  be 
ready  for  active  work  in  life,  and  after  subtracting  the  sum  of 
the  years  that  they  propose  to  allot  to  the  elementary  school, 
the  secondary  school,  and  the  professional  school,  the  remaining 
years,  three,  or  perhaps  two,  are  held  to  be  sufficient  for  the 
college. 

Both  of  these  methods  appear  to  me  to  be  arbitrary  and  un- 
scientific, altho  the  former  is  the  usual  academic  mode  of 
settling  the  question  and  has  behind  it  the  support  of  uncrit- 
ical public  opinion. 

One  of  the  worst  of  all  educational  evils  is  that  of  quanti- 
tative standards,  and  it  persists  surprisingly  in  the  discussion  of 
college  and  university  problems.  Every  higher  course  of  study 
that  I  know  of,  except  only  that  of  graduate  work  leading  to  the 
degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  at  the  best  universities,  is  prima- 
rily quantitative.  These  courses  are  all  based  on  time  spent, 
not  upon  performance.  The  adjustment  of  the  period  of  work 
to  the  capacity  of  individual  students,  now  so  common  in  ele- 
mentary schools  and  not  unusual  in  secondary  schools,  is  almost 
wholly  absent  from  the  colleges.  The  "  lock-step  "  is  seen 
there  to  perfection,  and  class  after  class  of  one  hundred  or  even 
two  hundred  members  moves  forward  (with  the  exception  of 
a  few  delinquents)  as  if  all  its  members  were  cast  in  a  common 
mold.  The  place  of  the  baccalaureate  course  and  its  standards 
will  never  be  established  on  sound  principles  until  the  question 
of  its  length  is  made  subordinate  to  those  relating  to  its  content 
and  its  purpose.  Moreover,  it  is  quite  unreasonable  to  assume 
that  the  baccalaureate  course  should  be  of  one  and  the  same 
length  for  everybody.  By  the  term  "  baccalaureate  course  "  I 
mean  those  liberal  studies  in  the  arts  and  sciences  that  follow 
the  secondary  school  period. 

My  own  views  on  the  questions  at  issue  are,  briefly,  these : 

I.  The  baccalaureate  or  college  course  of  study  of  the  liberal 
arts  and  sciences  should  be  preserved  at  all  hazards  as  an  essen- 
tial part  of  our  educational  organization.  It  is  distinctly 


1903]  The  length  of  the  college  course  143 

American  and  a  very  powerful  factor  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
nation's  culture  and  idealism.  It  should  be  treated  as  a  thing 
of  value  in  and  for  itself,  and  not  merely  as  an  incident  to  grad- 
uate study  or  to  professional  schools. 

2.  The  college  course  is  in  serious  danger  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  the  secondary  school  is  reaching  up  into  its  domain 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  professional  school  is  reaching  down 
into  it  on  the  other.    Purely  professional  subjects  in  law,  medi- 
cine, engineering,  and  architecture  are  widely  accepted  as  part 
of  the  baccalaureate  or  college  course  by  university  colleges, 
and  now  independent  colleges  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
are  trying  various  devices  with  a  view  to  doing  the  same  thing. 
If  this  tendency  continues  unchecked,  at  many  institutions  there 
will  soon  be  little  left  of  the  old  baccalaureate  course  but  the 
name. 

3.  To    preserve    the    college   it    is    necessary    (a)    to   fix 
and    enforce   a    standard    of    admission    which    can    be   met 
normally  by  a  combined   elementary  and   secondary   school 
course     of     not     more    than     ten     years     well  spent,     and 
(b)     to     keep     out     of     the     baccalaureate     course     purely 
professional     subjects    pursued     for    professional     ends     by 
professional     methods.     f^The     college     course,      in     other 
words,  should  be  constructed  for  itself  alone  and  for  the  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  spiritual  needs  of  the  youth  of  our  time, 
without  reference  or  regard  to  specific  careers.     This  course 
must  be  widely  elective,  and  so  offer  material  to  enrich  and 
develop  minds  of  every  type.    This  course  is  the  best  prepara- 
tion for  the  professional  study  of  law,  medicine,  divinity,  en- 
gineering architecture,  and  teaching,  simply  because  it  does 
what  it  does  for  the  human  mind  and  the  human  character,  and 
not  because  it  is  so  hampered  and  beaten  as  to  serve  as  a  con- 
duit to  a  particular  career  or  careers. 

4.  This  course  should  be  entered  upon  at  seventeen,  or  in 
some  cases  at  sixteen.  Eighteen  is  too  late  for  the  normal  boy ; 
the  boy  who  has  had  every  educational  advantage  and  is  not 
ready  to  meet  any  existing  college  entrance  test  before  he  is 
eighteen  has  been  dawdling  and  weakening  his  mental  powers 
by  keeping  them  too  long  in  contact  with  merely  elementary 
studies. 


1 44  Educational  Review  [September 

5.  For  the  boy  who  enters  college  at  seventeen  and  who 
looks  forward  to  a  career  as  scholar,  as  teacher,  or  as  man  of 
affairs,  four  years  is,  ordinarily,  not  too  long  a  time  to  spend  in 
liberal  studies.    On  the  other  hand  the  boy  who,  entering  col- 
lege at  seventeen,  proposes  to  take  up  later  the  study  of  a  pro- 
fession in  a  university,  ought  not  to  be  compelled  to  spend  four 
years  upon  liberal  studies  just  at  that  time  in  his  life.     To 
compel  him  to  do  so  is  to  advance  the  standard  of  professional 
education  arbitrarily  without  in  any  way  raising  it.     It  is  a 
fallacy  to  suppose  that  the  more  time  a  boy  spends  in  study  the 
more  he  knows  and  the  more  he  grows.    Whether  he  grows  by 
study  depends  entirely  upon  whether  he  is  studying  subjects 
adapted  to  his  needs,  his  interests,  and  his  powers.     Pedagogs 
suppose  that  the  more  time  a  boy  spends  in  school  and  college, 
the  better;  educators  know  the  contrary.     There  is  a  time  to 
leave  off  as  well  as  a  time  to  begin.    A  boy  can  develop  intel- 
lectual apathy  in  college  as  well  as  knowledge,  weakness  of 
will  as  well  as  strength  of  character. 

6.  The  earlier  parts  of  professional  courses  in  law,  medicine, 
engineering  and  the  like  are  most  excellent  material  for  the  boy 
of  nineteen  or  twenty.    He  should  begin  them  at  that  time  and 
complete  his  four  years  of  professional  study  by  twenty-three 
or  twenty-four.    To  postpone  his  professional  course  later  than 
this  is  not  only  to  waste  his  time,  but  to  waste  his  mind,  which 
is  far  worse. 

7.  There  should  be  a  college  course  two  years  in  length, 
carefully  constructed  as  a  thing  by  itself  and  not  merely  the 
first  part  of  a  three-years'  or  a  four-years'  course,  which  will 
enable  intending  professional  students  to  spend  this  time  as  ad- 
vantageously as  possible  in  purely  liberal  studies.     The  uni- 
versity colleges  can  establish  such  a  course  readily  enough ;  the 
independent  colleges  will  have  to  establish  such  a  course  or  see 
their  influence  and  prestige  steadily  decline.    To  try  to  meet  the 
new  situation  by  simply  reproducing  all  present  conditions 
on  a  three-year  scale  instead  of  on  a  four-year  scale,  4s  a  case 
of  solvitur  ambulando.    The  shortening  of  the  college  to  three 
years  for  all  students  involves  an  unnecessary  sacrifice.     As 
usually  defended  this  policy  involves  no  educational  principle, 


1903]  The  length  of  the  college  course  145 

but  merely  concedes  a  year  of  liberal  study  to  the  modern  de- 
mand for  haste  and  hurry. 

8.  Whether  the  completion  of  such  a  two-year  course  should 
be  crowned  with  a  degree   is  to  me  a  matter  of  indifference. 
Degrees  are  the  tinsel  of  higher  education  and  not  its  reality. 
Such  a  two-year  course  as  I  have  in  mind  would  imply  a 
standard  of  attainment  at  least  as  high  as  that  required  for  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  in  1860,  which  had  many  characteristics  that 
we  of  to-day  persistently  undervalue.     If  this  discussion  could 
be   diverted   from   degrees   to   real   educational   standards,   it 
would  be  a  great  gain.     The  compromise  plan  as  to  degrees, 
now  becoming  so  popular,  whereby  the  baccalaureate  degree  is 
given  either  for  two  years  of  college  study  and  two  years  of 
work  in  a  professional  school  or  for  three  years  of  college 
study  and  one  year  of  work  in  a  professional  school,  is  disas- 
trous to  the  integrity  of  the  college  course.     It  deliberately 
shortens  the  college  course  by  one  year  or  two  while  proclaim- 
ing a  four-year  college  course.     It  is  a  policy  that  only  uni- 
versity colleges  can  adopt;  independent  colleges  must  suffer  if 
it  becomes  a  fixed  and  permanent  policy. 

9.  The  most  difficult  point  to  establish,  apparently,  is  that 
at  which  the  baccalaureate  course  should  begin.     Colleges  with 
courses  nominally  four  years  in  length  are  admitting  students 
with  from  one  to  two  years'  less  preparation  than  is  demanded 
by  other  colleges  with  four-year  courses.     The  lax  enforcement 
of  published  requirements  for  admission,   together  with  the 
wide  acceptance  of  certificates  from  uninspected  and  unvisited 
schools,  has  demoralized  college  standards  very  generally.     It 
does  not  make  much  difference  how  long  the  baccalaureate 
course  is,  if  it  does  not  begin  anywhere. 

10.  A  university  ought  not  to  admit  to   its  professional 
schools  students  who>  have  not  had  a  college  course  of  liberal 
study,  or  its  equivalent.     A  minimum  course  of  two  years  of 
such  study  should  be  insisted  upon.     A  four-year  course  should 
not  be  required  for  the  two  reasons  ( i )  that  it  delays  too  long 
entrance  upon  active  life-work,  and  (2)  that  it  does  not  use 
the  lime  and  effort  of  the  intending  professional  student  to  the 
best  advantage. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

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RL.U  O  L.D 

APR  1  7  1961 

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General  Library 

University  of  California 

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